Can Wesley Clark Be President?

So now that Wesley Clark is in the "race" (I hate that word) for the Democratic presidential nomination, what effect will he have? Hard to say. He may well probably peel away some support from the top-tier candidates (Dean, Kerry, Gephardt) and become a viable contender. Right now, Clark's fans are seemingly touting him as some kind of an American Charles de Gaulle, a military man who'll save his country from itself and renew its civic life and sense of purpose.

That remains to be seen. However, there are a couple of things about Clark one should know. For one thing, he initially supported the war in Iraq - even though he now sees it as an operation gone wrong - and had full confidence in Bush and Blair and their desire to oust Saddam Hussein. Clark only questioned the military role there after American and British forces became well entrenched and they ended up there for the long haul. Before that he'd forecast a quick, easy victory in Iraq, and he even suggested that Arab states would be more supportive of the U.S. and the U.K. after Saddam was ousted and the the reconstruction began. He even predicted baby steps toward democratization in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. None of that has happened.

Clark was also instrumental in causing a potentially serious confrontation between the United States and Russia during the Kosovo crisis of 1999. He advocated attacking any Russian forces that might try to take over an air base in the town of Pristina once NATO troops moved in to fill the void left by the Serb withdrawal from the province. To make a long story short (or you can read the long story here), Clark was summarily rebuffed by the British high command and the Pentagon, and ultimately he was retired. To be fair, though, Clark admitted that the experience was a sobering one for him. Perhaps he's learned from all of his mistakes and he's ready to lead the nation with a greater sense of wisdom. I would expect nothing less from a man who was first in his class at West Point.

So is Clark our de Gaulle, or is he an empty uniform? Stay tuned.

(P.S. During a difficult moment in his presidency of France, de Gaulle supposedly threw up his hands and declared it was almost impossible to govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese. Clark will have an even harder time as President of the United States if elected; he'll have to govern a country with over four hundred flavors of ice cream! :-D)